Port Area

Patrol Zone

When you finally leave the tunnel, a cut scene segues into a battle of Metal Gears. You retain the same control over Rex with all the same abilities, so hopefully you got comfortable with the controls in the tunnel. However, fighting Metal Gear Ray isn't quite the same as mowing down Gekkos.

One difference you'll note right away is that the FE Laser is actually useful against Ray and in fact may be the best weapon to use. Hold L1 to charge the beam (watch the meter in the bottom-right corner of the screen) and wait for Ray to dash toward you with an attack. As it does, release the FE Laser shot to stop Ray in its tracks. Ray drops to the ground, letting you dash forward and tap TRIANGLE for a context-sensitive close attack.

If you get into a solid rhythm, you can keep this up throughout almost the entire fight. After executing the context-sensitive attack, immediately start charging the FE Laser again and wait for Ray to charge you. If the FE Laser overheats or if Ray just gets too far away, make use of the AT Missiles and launch large volleys at a time.

Metal Gear Ray attacks mostly with charging "melee" attacks, so any time the machine gets near you, back away with quick dashes--tapping X will let you dash in any direction, and dashing any direction other than forward will let you keep charging your FE Laser. When there's distance between you and Ray, expect Ray to fire its own volleys of missiles. You can either shoot down the missiles with Gattling Gun fire or simply dash behind a tall building to take cover from the missiles. If you can, try to take cover so that you can continue to charge the FE Laser.

That about sums up the fight. Just keep up constant pressure while keeping a mid-range distance between you and Ray. You don't want to be so close that Ray can hit you (unless you've got the FE Laser charged), but you always want to be within range so that when you do knock down Ray, either with the FE Laser or with AT Missiles, you can dash in and deliver a ground attack before it gets up. If Ray does get in close for an attack, often times you can counter by tapping TRIANGLE when an on-screen indicator prompts you. However you defeat Ray, the end of the fight marks the end of the act.